Developer Blogs

11.06.2014

Game Update 3.0 Class Changes: Commando + Mercenary

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the first of our Disciplines blogs! For the month of November, we will be covering all of the Advanced Classes.

The Game Update 3.0 class changes for the Trooper and Bounty Hunter set of classes are, overall, the most drastic changes received by any class set in the 3.0 update. The term “class set” refers to the base class (in this example, the Trooper) along with its advanced classes (Commando and Vanguard, continuing with this example). The purpose of this blog is to inform Troopers of the major changes that are coming in the 3.0 update, but this blog is not a comprehensive list of every single Trooper change. Also, please note that the content described in this blog is still under development, so anything mentioned throughout this blog is still subject to change (especially any exact numbers or percentages that may be mentioned).

Many Trooper abilities have had their resource costs and damage values slightly adjusted to make Energy Cell resources more manageable. Usually, this means the cost of an ability was slightly reduced along with its damage or healing, but for some abilities, the opposite may be true. For example, many abilities that formerly required 16 Energy Cells now require only 15 and damage or heal for slightly less, but many abilities that formerly required 8 Energy Cells now require 10 and damage or heal for slightly more. The 3.0 changes to channeled abilities have also aided Troopers with their Energy Cell management. Since channels now charge resources with each tick of damage or healing, that means Troopers can begin using channeled abilities at lower Energy Cell levels without slowing their resource regeneration rate.

Commando

All Commandos are getting three additional passive abilities in the 3.0 update:

Target Lock: Full Auto, Boltstorm, High Impact Bolt, and Mag Bolt ignore 30% of the target's armor. In addition, the critical chance of Advanced Medical Probe and Bacta Infusion are increased by 5%, and critical results with damage and healing abilities increase alacrity by 3% for 6 seconds.

Supercharge: Activating Hammer Shot, Med Shot, Charged Bolts, Grav Round, or Medical Probe generates a stack of Supercharge. Each stack increases all damage and healing done by 0.1%. Stacks up to 10 times and lasts up to 60 seconds. Requires an active cell.

Commandos will have two abilities that they can use Supercharge stacks to activate:

Supercharged Cell: Requires and converts 10 stacks of Supercharge to recharge 10 energy cells and empower your active cell:
Combat Support Cell: Increases healing done by 5% for 10 seconds. While active, Advanced Medical Probe has no cooldown and depletes 5 fewer energy cells.
Plasma Cell: Increases periodic damage dealt by 10% for 10 seconds and causes the next successful ranged attack on a target affected by your Incendiary Round’s burn to apply Supercharged Burn to the target, which deals elemental damage over 5 seconds.
Armor-piercing Cell: Increases armor penetration by 10% for 10 seconds. While active, damage dealt by Grav Round, Demolition Round, Boltstorm, and Vortex Bolt grants Supercharged Velocity, which increases alacrity by 1%. This effect cannot occur more than once per second and can stack up to 3 times.

Supercharged Celerity: Requires and converts 10 stacks of Supercharge to issue Supercharged Celerity to you and your Operation group members within 40 meters, increasing alacrity by 10%. Lasts 10 seconds.
Additionally, some changes have been made to basic Commando healing capabilities. Hammer Shot can no longer heal friendly targets while Combat Support Cell is active. Instead, Commandos now have Med Shot, a weak instant heal that depletes no Energy Cells and can be used regardless of which Cell is active. Medical Probe and Kolto Bomb are now restricted to the Combat Medic discipline, but all Commandos will be able to use Bacta Infusion.

Combat Medic

Commandos that want to heal should feel at home in the Combat Medic discipline. It is rather similar to the old Combat Medic skill tree, but it has a few changes and improvements that should make healing feel a bit more streamlined. With the new discipline system, only Combat Medic Commandos have access to Medical Probe, Kolto Bomb, and Trauma Probe. Kolto Bomb now heals up to 8 targets in its radius, and Combat Medics have gained a new healing ability:

Successive Treatment: Heals a friendly target over the channel duration, and heals one new friendly target within 20 meters with each tick, healing up to four total targets with the final tick. 28 energy cells are depleted over the duration of the channel.

Gunnery

The Gunnery Commando kit still contains Grav Round and Demolition Round, and the discipline gets two new active abilities:

Vortex Bolt: Fires a vortex bolt that deals weapon damage, and if it successfully hits the target, allows your next Grav Round to activate instantly.

Boltstorm: Fires a continuous blaze of blaster bolts at the target, dealing weapon damage and depleting 16 energy cells over the duration. Weak and standard enemies caught in the blaze of bolts are stunned for the duration. Shares a cooldown with Full Auto.

Commandos should find that the Gunnery play style has not changed significantly, but that it is now a little more mobile than it was before the 3.0 update.

Assault Specialist

The Assault Specialist kit still contains Incendiary Round and Assault Plastique (though the burning effect has been removed from Assault Plastique), and this discipline also gets two new active abilities:

Serrated Bolt: Fires special serrated blaster bolts at the target that deal weapon damage and cause the target to bleed for internal damage over 15 seconds.

Mag Bolt: Fires a very powerful shot at the target that deals weapon damage. Shares a cooldown with High Impact Bolt.
Commandos will find that this discipline is also a little more mobile than it used to be, with a new skill that allows the Commando to trigger an instantly activating Charged Bolts or Serrated Bolt every so often and another skill that turns Explosive Round into a powerful execute ability.

Utilities

Most of the utility choices available to Commandos will be familiar to experienced players, but the great thing about the discipline system is that many utilities that were specifically tied to one skill tree or another can now be chosen by any discipline. In addition, there are a few new utility skills that can be chosen, two of which are the following:

Supercharged Reserves: Reduces the cooldowns of Field Aid and Disabling Shot by 3 seconds each. In addition, you build up to 10 stacks of Supercharge over the course of using Recharge and Reload. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.

Forced March: Allows Full Auto, Boltstorm, and Successive Treatment to be activated while moving.

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the first of our Disciplines blogs! For the month of November, we will be covering all of the Advanced Classes.

The Game Update 3.0 class changes for the Bounty Hunter and Trooper set of classes are, overall, the most drastic changes received by any class set in the 3.0 update. The term “class set” refers to the base class (in this example, the Bounty Hunter) along with its Advanced Classes (Mercenary and Powertech, continuing with this example). The purpose of this blog is to inform Bounty Hunters of the major changes that are coming in the 3.0 update, but this blog is not a comprehensive list of every single Bounty Hunter change. Also, please note that the content described in this blog is still under development, so anything mentioned throughout this blog is still subject to change (especially any exact numbers or percentages that may be mentioned).

Many Bounty Hunter abilities have had their resource costs and damage values slightly adjusted to make Heat resources more manageable. Usually, this means the cost of an ability was slightly reduced along with its damage or healing, but for some abilities, the opposite may be true. For example, many abilities that formerly required 16 Heat now require only 15 and damage or heal for slightly less, but many abilities that formerly required 8 Heat now require 10 and damage or heal for slightly more. The 3.0 changes to channeled abilities have also aided Bounty Hunters with their Heat management. Since channels now charge resources with each tick of damage or healing, that means Bounty Hunters can begin using channeled abilities at higher Heat levels without slowing their resource regeneration rate.

Mercenary

All Mercenaries are getting three additional passive abilities in the 3.0 update:

Advanced Targeting: Unload, Blazing Bolts, Rail Shot, and Mag Shot ignore 30% of the target's armor. In addition, the critical chance of Healing Scan and Emergency Scan are increased by 5%, and critical results with damage and healing abilities increase alacrity by 3% for 6 seconds.

Supercharge: Activating Rapid Shots, Kolto Shot, Power Shot, Tracer Missile, or Rapid Scan generates a stack of Supercharge. Each stack increases all damage and healing done by 0.1%. Stacks up to 10 times and lasts up to 60 seconds. Requires an active cylinder.

Mercenaries will have two abilities that they can use Supercharge stacks to activate:

Supercharged Gas: Requires and converts 10 stacks of Supercharge to vent 10 heat and empower your active cylinder:
Combat Support Cylinder: Increases healing done by 5% for 10 seconds. While active, Healing Scan has no cooldown and generates 5 less heat.
Combustible Gas Cylinder: Increases periodic damage dealt by 10% for 10 seconds and causes the next successful ranged attack on a target affected by your Incendiary Missile's burn to apply Supercharged Burn to the target, which deals elemental damage over 5 seconds.
High Velocity Gas Cylinder: Increases armor penetration by 10% for 10 seconds. While active, damage dealt by Tracer Missile, Heatseeker Missiles, Blazing Bolts, and Priming Shot grants Supercharged Velocity, which increases alacrity by 1%. This effect cannot occur more than once per second and can stack up to 3 times.

Supercharged Celerity: Requires and converts 10 stacks of Supercharge to issue Supercharged Celerity to you and your Operation group members within 40 meters, increasing alacrity by 10%. Lasts 10 seconds.

Additionally, some changes have been made to basic Mercenary healing capabilities. Rapid Shots can no longer heal friendly targets while Combat Support Cylinder is active. Instead, Mercenaries now have Kolto Shot, a weak instant heal that generates no Heat and can be used regardless of which Cylinder is active. Rapid Scan and Kolto Missile are now restricted to the Bodyguard discipline, but all Mercenaries will be able to use Emergency Scan.

Bodyguard

Mercenaries that want to heal should feel at home in the Bodyguard discipline. It is rather similar to the old Bodyguard skill tree, but it has a few changes and improvements that should make healing feel a bit more streamlined. With the new discipline system, only Bodyguard Mercenaries have access to Rapid Scan, Kolto Missile, and Kolto Shell. Kolto Missile now heals up to 8 targets in its radius, and Bodyguards have gained a new healing ability:

Progressive Scan: Heals a friendly target over the channel duration, and heals one new friendly target within 20 meters with each tick, healing up to four total targets with the final tick. 28 heat is generated over the duration of the channel.

Arsenal

The Arsenal Mercenary kit still contains Tracer Missile and Heatseeker Missiles, and the discipline gets two new active abilities:

Priming Shot: Fires a priming shot that deals weapon damage, and if it successfully hits the target, allows your next Tracer Missile to activate instantly.
Blazing Bolts: Fires a continuous blaze of blaster bolts at the target, dealing weapon damage and generating 16 heat over the duration. Weak and standard enemies caught in the blaze of bolts are stunned for the duration. Shares a cooldown with Unload.

Mercenaries should find that the Arsenal play style has not changed significantly, but that it is now a little more mobile than it was before the 3.0 update.

Innovative Ordnance

The Innovative Ordnance (formerly known as the Pyrotech) kit still contains Incendiary Missile and Thermal Detonator (though the burning effect has been removed from Thermal Detonator), and this discipline also gets two new active abilities:

Serrated Shot: Fires special serrated blaster bolts at the target that deal weapon damage and cause the target to bleed for internal damage over 15 seconds.

Mag Shot: Fires a very powerful shot at the target that deals weapon damage. Shares a cooldown with Rail Shot.

Mercenaries will find that this discipline is also a little more mobile than it used to be, with a new skill that allows the Mercenary to trigger an instantly activating Power Shot or Serrated Shot every so often and another skill that turns Missile Blast into a powerful execute ability.

Utilities

Most of the utility choices available to Mercenaries will be familiar to experienced players, but the great thing about the discipline system is that many utilities that were specifically tied to one skill tree or another can now be chosen by any discipline. In addition, there are a few new utility skills that can be chosen, two of which are the following:

Supercharged Reserves: Reduces the cooldowns of Cure and Disabling Shot by 3 seconds each. In addition, you build up to 10 stacks of Supercharge over the course of using Recharge and Reload. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.

Thrill of the Hunt: Allows Unload, Blazing Bolts, and Progressive Scan to be activated while moving.

The statements and opinions expressed on these websites are solely those of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, nor are they endorsed by Bioware, LucasArts, and its licensors do not guarantee the accuracy of, and are in no way responsible for any content on these websites, and the Star Wars: The Old Republic privacy policy does not apply to their information collection practices.